LIST OF TRUSTEES

Betty Walters

Betty, a retired junior school headmistress, knew both Betty and Joan Rayner personally in their later years and gained a direct appreciation of their lifetime works. Betty has been active in the Box Hill community having served for twelve years on Box Hill City Council, including a term as Mayor, Commissioner of the Board of Works, and Chair of the inner eastern region of the Family and Community Services committee. She also served nine years on the Board of Box Hill Hospital, later as Senior Vice-President. Betty has a particular interest in theatre for children. During her teaching years she focussed on enriching students’ learning experiences by arranging incursions from touring companies and excursions to circus, dance, theatre and musical productions. She is thrilled to now be involved with ACTF. Betty’s great joy since retiring is time spent with her three young grandsons.

Gilly McInnes

Originally a drama teacher, Gilly McInnes spent many decades working in the Arts for and with young people as writer, director, performer, artist in residence and teacher. She was an early member of the Mushroom Troupe ensemble, and a member of Handspan Theatre for 17 years. As Gilly Farrelly she toured Australia with her solos shows Cafe Mad and The Swashbuckling Adventures of Grandma Mad. Her shows for children toured major theatres as well as schools, libraries, paddocks, streets and kindergartens. She enjoyed being mentored by Joan and Betty Rayner during this time. Gilly has written more than 30 plays for children performed by leading children's theatre companies including Handspan, Patch, Arena and Polyglot. Her adaptation of The Hobbit toured theatres nationally and in the USA. Gilly also wrote and presented for Radio National's education program for children. For 4 years Gilly was Artistic Director of Polyglot and previously sat on the boards of both Polyglot and Handspan. More recently she taught in the (now discontinued) Puppetry course at the Victorian College of the Arts, and currently teaches Drama at the Trinity College Foundation Studies Program.

David Weil

David Weil is a practising Law Institute accredited specialist property lawyer, CPA member and graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. As a young boy, David was privileged to be invited to storytelling sessions and puppetry performances at Merryfield – the home of Joan and Betty Rayner. Subsequently, David assisted Joan Rayner in establishing the Australian Children’s Theatre Foundation and has been an ACTF trustee since its inception. David’s other community interests include being Chairman of Huntingtower School, trustee of the Sir Edward Dunlop International Students Emergency Fund, and Immediate Past President of the Australian Asian Association of Victoria with past involvement in the Landcare Foundation and Foundation Boroondara. David enjoys live theatre and performs occasionally in amateur theatre musicals. As an ACTF trustee, David enjoys seeing the delight on children’s faces as they watch the ACTF sponsored performances.

Esther Anatolitis

Esther Anatolitis is Director of Regional Arts Victoria, and co-curator of Architecture+Philosophy. She is a writer, facilitator and arts advocate. Esther has collaborated on various cross-disciplinary projects across a range of media and locations, with a focus on the identification of interstitial spaces for new work, and the creative power of art to make place. Her past professional roles span craft and design, literary arts, multicultural arts, public art, festivals, publishing and broadcasting; she has held CEO-level positions with several key Victorian arts organisations, and she has consulted to numerous arts organisations on their strategic planning and programming. Esther fosters sector-wide arts networks with a Victorian focus. Esther’s work has been published widely in Australia and overseas, most recently in The Age, The Australian, Arts Hub, un Magazine, Dancehouse Diary, Artichoke, Houses and RealTime Arts. She has been profiled in The Age, The Leader, Melbourne News, CB Online, Arts Hub and Neos Kosmos. Her writing has been translated into German, Greek and Ukrainian. Esther’s work creates and sustains the frameworks for independent creative practice

Richard Sallis

Richard Sallis lectures in drama/theatre at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education (MGSE) at The University of Melbourne. He has a background in the performing arts and Theatre for Young People (TYP) including his past work as a regular team member at the St. Martins Youth Arts Centre. Richard is a former President of Drama Australia and the current Director of Publications for IDEA (the International Drama/Theatre in Education Association). He is also a previous Director of Programs for Drama Victoria, the drama teachers’ association of Victoria. He has a particular interest in performed research (and verbatim theatre) and has written several plays using this form of research reportage. His research interests include drama/theatre education, the arts in primary schools, global education and gender identity in education.

Rod Parnell

Rod Parnall was formerly a manager with the Department of Education and Training with responsibilities for Arts education amongst other areas. He was trained as a Drama and Media teacher and taught at secondary and tertiary levels. He was responsible for the development and implementation of VCE Drama and Theatre Studies both as writer, Chief Examiner and State Reviewer for both and the development and management of K—10 arts curriculum for Victoria. He currently advises on pre-production film scripts among other related arts activities and volunteers his spare time with refugee support.